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Since his election as president, Donald Trump has been obsessed with the nebulous specter of voter fraud. Despite little evidence that it exists in the form the Republican Party like to talk about — usually imagined as some kind of wild conspiracy involving undocumented immigrants being paid to vote for Democrats — Trump and others insist that it’s a real problem.

Well, a case in North Carolina has shown that election fraud is a serious issue — just not in the way Republicans think. In the Ninth District, the Republican candidate for Congress who had initially been declared the winner has been forced to call for another election as the evidence became overwhelming that a GOP operative engaged in an illegal scheme to corrupt the vote.

Republicans have been conspicuously quiet about the issue. Clearly, they like using “voter fraud” as a bludgeon when they attack Democrats, but they have little interest in actually condemning such crimes when they happen on their side. But on Friday, a reporter finally had the chance to challenge Trump on the issue during a meeting with press in the Oval Office.

Trump tried to deflect, rambling off a nonsensical and vague list of other supposed instances of voter fraud. But the reporter, who couldn’t be identified by video of the event, interjected to point out that he was making stuff up.

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The National Memo is a political newsletter and website that combines the spirit of investigative journalism with new technology and ideas. We cover campaigns, elections, the White House, Congress, and the world with a fresh outlook. Our own journalism — as well as our selections of the smartest stories available every day — reflects a clear and strong perspective, without the kind of propaganda, ultra-partisanship and overwrought ideology that burden so much of our political discourse.